It has been nearly three years since the Muscogee Creek Nation filed a lawsuit against the Alabama-based Poarch Band of Creek Indians.The federal lawsuit is still pending. In the meantime, the Poarch Band tribe has built a $246 million gaming operation on the land that once belonged to the Muscogee Creeks.

Saying it wants to protect the graves of the tribe’s ancestors from excavation, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to stop the development of a casino in Wetumpka, Ala.

A plot of land considered culturally and spiritually important to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation won’t be affected by a new business development at Wetumka, a Poarch official said this week.